Time flies when you’re having fun, they say. And so it is that we welcome you to the 10th volume of Nature Reviews Chemistry.

Integrative catalytic pairs are poised to redefine the boundaries of heterogeneous catalysis through programmable synergy and spatial precision. This Review outlines current advances and identifies key challenges towards realizing next-generation catalysts with molecular-level control.

State-of-the-art approaches for modelling electrified solid–electrolyte interfaces are critically discussed, highlighting key challenges in incorporating thermodynamic open-boundary conditions, large electrostatic potentials and their dynamic fluctuations into realistic ab initio simulations.

We examine the historical development and underlying principles of foundation models realized in language and vision, and propose how physics-infused machine learning interaction potentials could dramatically transform at scale to create transformative foundation models for chemistry and materials science.

To write this article, the authors, members of the International Women in Supramolecular Chemistry (WISC) network surveyed colleagues who care for older children about the challenges of integrating that role with their academic careers.

Ahead of his 60th birthday, Paul A. Midgley, Professor of Materials Science at the University of Cambridge, discussed his life in science.

Sibo Chetry explains how an ultrahigh-vacuum chamber with a cryostat and temperature-controlled sample stage can be used for quantum sieving by thermal desorption of an isotopic mixture.

Direct recruitment of target proteins is a ubiquitination-independent approach for protein degradation and provides an alternative approach to proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) for targeted protein degradation.

A recent study showed peptides could self-assemble into catalytic droplets that could promote an aqueous aldol addition. This approach provides a proof of concept example of a droplet working as a reaction field to accelerate chemical reactions.

Surgical tumour removal is often hindered by unclear margins. A recent study has developed a ‘spray on’ fluorescent probe system that rapidly stains and highlights tumour edges, enabling high contrast, real time margin detection that can be used directly in the surgical field.